Members have often reviewed either products or cars and then sent a report into the list. Due to different market release dates quite often we get an insite/scoop of a car even before the journalists have got their own reviews published. Here are a selection of those.

Subject: [iwoc] (long) Delfino Feroce match report
From: Cameron Leask
Date: Mon, 1 May 2000 12:39:15 +0100

Hi all

As promised, a wee match report on the Delfino. No doubt Ian Cook will add his own comments at some point in the not too distant future!

First things first: a big thankyou to Allard Marx and the Defino team. They trusted us with their (only) prototype!!

Specs: the car I was driving was the same preproduction car that Tiff drove on Top Gear. It has a 208bhp engine in it (donated by a MY98 car, which also provided the dials and switchgear...). The guys at Delfino say they've measured 0-60 in 4.3secs. I for one am not about to refute that figure, it's an incredibly rapid vehicle!

As far as I could tell, underneath the bodywork the running gear is mainly unaltered, although I'm pretty certain they've played with the air intakes and induction, and of course lowered the suspension... unfortunately they haven't used the my98 seats and my - ahem - large frame found the replacements just a touch too narrow... I'm sure they'll play with this in production...

Starting the car is incredible. Although there's a big red button beside the steering wheel, it's for the horn, so you just have to turn a key like normal :< - but you know that it worked, because this HUGE rumble appears from the back of the car and licks its way around the cockpit before bouncing off down the street and setting off two or three car alarms (this happened more than once :>)

Those of you who watched Tiff driving the car on Top Gear will no doubt remember the sequence when he blipped the throttle a few times in third gear (I think) and got some wonderful "tssschchchchchssscchchch!" noises from the turbo. That's nothing. It does that - MUCH louder than it seemed on TV - in every gear, and everytime you change gear it just seems to get more intoxicating! I can always a good reason to change gear under boost ;>

Pulling away from the Delfino workshop outside Stafford, the car seemed very tight and stiff - suspension, steering, pedals (the brake has no servo assistance) and driving the mile or two towards the motorway it seemed that the motorway might become painful very quickly...

I think there was a slip road on to the motorway - all I can remember is the blur and the noise bouncing off the wall six feet to my right. *GRIN*

On the motorway (on which, unfortunately, most of my driving time in the Feroce was spent) the car was very stable and considering the fact that it's still preproduction I reckon it's pretty quiet on the wind noise front. At speed with a hat on on a lovely day it was very acceptable. Acceleration in fifth gear was fine for most purposes, the occaisional drop into fourth made darting into tight spaces very easy. Third gear out of the roadwork-induced 50mph limits was sublime!!

Stopping at the services I discovered what a pain it is to fill with petrol. I took several minutes to figure out a decent technique (both filler caps on the fake tonneau behind the seats are fillers). While parked at the service station, "fat bloke in a red astra" drives in and circles the Feroce three times, staring, before lowering his window...

FBIARA: Whassat mate?
me: Delfino Feroce
FBIARA: Whassat mate?
me: It's a subaru impreza underneath a two-seater body
FBIARA: izzit yours mate?
me: No *grin* I've just borrowed it for the day *grin*
FBIARA: lucky b....
me: Believe me, I know [starts engine]
FBIARA: (mouths the phrase...) F...ing hell
me: (first gear, burbles off into distance, grinning)

Driving into Glasgow the office workers who were skiving in the sunshine just stared... and the car turned the heads of about 40% of the traffic on the motorway!

On the open roads - most of which I knew reasonably well - the car behaves almost exactly like the Impreza it's based on. No big surprises. If you think faster, lighter (by a third), lower than a UK Turbo then you just about have the measure of the Feroce - it accelerates incredibly fast, surprisingly so, bearing in mind that it's a standard 208bhp engine. The ability of the engine to pull - and pull - and pull - all the way up to the limiter meant that "good progress" was possible in almost all road situations. As with cars like Lotus Elises, the low seats contribute to the impression of speed, but unlike the elise, in which I sometimes feel rather vulnerable, the Feroce always made me feel protected from danger (rightly or wrongly!).

Unfortunately this Feroce has also inherited the bad habits of its parentage - the car was a little prone to understeer when travelling fast. A blast as a passenger in an Elise on Saturday morning confirmed in my mind that the Impreza (and the Feroce) would struggle to navigate really twisty corners as accurately as the Lotus. Having said that though, because of the reduced weight, the understeer in the Feroce was rather less noticeable than an Impreza.

Because there was no weight at the rear of the Feroce, it does have a tendancy to feel very light at the back under braking, and this combined with understeer and an impending roundabout on one particular corner I misjudged meant that the car seemed to go light at the back and understeer at the same time, but everything pulled together in time for me to hit the brakes in a straight line. The lack of a servo meant that my right leg was sore by the end of the day (!!) but the brakes (which appeared to be standard Subaru two-pot calipers at the front with green pads) worked very well on this car and always behaved predictably.

On arrival at Knockhill we drove into the pit lane and immediately drew a crowd of admirers - and despite one wee boy's insistence that it was a Subaru that had been converted by Lotus (!!!) everyone knew exactly what they were looking at... The spectators at Duffus had, apparently, heard us coming!

So in summary...

+ exceptional performance
+ very fuel efficient
+ sounds fabulous
+ huge pose factor
+ reasonably generous luggage space

- no soft top planned (yet?)
- inherited bad habits not yet "dialled out"
- noise can be overwhelming (Colin: please apologise to your neighbours!!)
- poor lighting
- Tiff had (allegedly) farted in the driver's seat ;> (sorry, don't know
whether VB-H did or not)

It really is difficult to complain about the car. I have many preproduction "gripes" that I would want fixed (narrow seats, driving position, too low steering wheel, narrow cockpit, access to the boot, quality of cockpit fittings, lighting, security etc) but these are all pre-production things that I know are being worked on. Visually I think most people agree that the styling is an acquired taste, I know I like it except perhaps for the fog lamps at the front which seem too big, and the vents below the A pillar which somehow don't look quite right.

But.... as a preproduction car - practically a kitcar, I suppose - it was stunning. Very few rattles or squeaks (the Elise had more), fantastic performance/economy, good handling, nuff said.

As you can tell, I loved it... :> The only problem is, I've ordered a P1!! But when I win the lottery (and get a garage =8O) I think I might, maybe, be persuaded!

Thanks again to Allard Marx and the rest of the Delfino team for trusting me (!!) and providing the basis for a fantastic day's driving. *That* drive north won't be forgotten for a long, long time...

Cameron
http://www.delfino.co.uk

Subject: [iwoc] Delfino Feroce
From: Colin Tinto
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 23:28:30 GMT

The owner of the company developing the Delfino Feroce brought the car up to Knockhill for a film shoot - a pilot car based programme for Channel 4 named Sex Drive. He needed a garage for the night in Edinburgh, so I offered space in mine.

I went along on Saturday afternoon to Knockhill and watched the filming. They were doing a sequence called 'Supermodels', and had a rather tasty Italian model named Paula driving the car, while they filmed from various angles. 4 hours of standing around in sub-zero temperatures and they were finished.

I got one passenger lap in the car, then it was time to go :(

The car was tucked up in my garage overnight, but Sunday morning I had to deliver the car to the company owner elsewhere in Edinburgh - a drive of about 3 miles. Since I had to be there for 9, I left at 7.30, and took, shall we say, a detour :) (For those that know the area, round the bypass, then down to Peebles via Penicuik, and along to Innerleithen, and back).

It's still a pre-production model, so has no roof, or heater, so I was well wrapped up, since it was still really cold at 8am.

The first thing that gets you is the noise. It sounds superb. The standard Impreza engine has a different exhaust that exits the rear through 2 side by side upswept pipes. The driving position isn't ideal, although the production car will have a lower seat. The seat was all the way back, and my feet were fine, but the steering wheel just touched my legs, making keeping your hands on the wheel while turning difficult, and in town driving a bit awkward. The 4 point belts don't have inertia reels either, so you can't lean forward to see out at junctions...

Once out of town, the next thing you notice is the acceleration. It's been measured at something around 4.5s 0-60, and it feels like it too. Any gear, anything above 2500rpm, and it takes off. It's very, very quick, even compared to a 22b. Sitting lower makes it feel even quicker too, and having the top open adds to that again.

The roads were wet, with some ice at the sides of the road, so I was taking it easy on the corners, but it feels like it's very well glued down. I felt one slight twitch from the rear, putting the power down coming out of a tight corner, so I'd imagine it could be quite playful when you get used to it (and you own it, and it's not the only one in the world...)

The brakes don't have any servo assistance - not sure if the production car will have or not, but to be honest once you're used to it, it's not a problem slowing down 850kg of aluminium and fibreglass.

The suspension is still being tuned, and does need some improvement. It thumps a bit over potholes and rough roads, but coming over crests, going through dips, or round long sweepers, it feels a bit soft. I suspect either softer dampers or harder springs would sort that out, depending on driver preference.

The only other thing I'd like, which is probably a personal thing, is a slightly quicker steering rack.

Overall it felt very well put together - a lot better than I expected from a development car.

If Delfino manage to secure some 280bhp STi engines, sort the suspension, and get a roof sorted out, they'll create an absolute hooligan of a car. 0-60 in 3.8, theoretical top speed of 175 or 180, yours for 39,500...

(www.delfino.co.uk has some info, and I'll try and upload some digital pictures somewhere)

Colin

Copyright © of photographs remain with Colin Tinto, used here by permission and may not be copied without consent.